Potential Purchase Advice

[John William Kuhfahl]

Hey guys, this is my first post here and I'm still very much in the educational phase of my investing career (I guess one always is). I'm going to run some details by you and I'd like all of you who feel you are qualified to advise me so I can learn how to properly analyze these deals and be more cognizant of potential pitfalls/mistakes:

So, I found this property off market in a Chicago real estate investment group. Here are the property details:

SFH in University Park, IL 60484 - 4 bd / 2.5 ba / 2,315 sqft

Asking Price: $165,000

ARV: $240,000

Notes: Property needs cosmetic work all around. Roof, HVAC and foundation all have no issues.

My plan with a property like this would be to get positive equity asap and re-fi. I'm also partial to STR's at this point, so I'd like to make it an AirBNB. My questions are: How does an agent determine ARV? In your experience, is this a reliable indicator? What other factors should I pay close attention to in either the deal or when reviewing the physical property? How about if this is done remotely? I can post pics in here, but I'm also curious what factors would make this a better Section 8/LTR over an AirBNB. Please drop as much knowledge as you're willing and provide examples if you can. This really helps me to learn the ropes.

[Jonathan Klemm]

Hey there @John William Kuhfahl - Congrats on the first post, and welcome to the Chicago BiggerPockets community!

Figuring out your ARV is the most important thing you can learn so great questions. You need to search for properties near your subject property deal that look like and have the same size as your end result aka a comp aka a comparable.

Any quality agent can run your comparable market analysis (CMA), and over time, with practice, you can run your own comps. My good buddy @Account Closed can definitely help you with this process!

It is important always to double-check everyone's work because no one is going to put in the true due diligence needed more than you!

My advice would be to stay away from short-term rentals before you get some more experience. It is a very system-driven profession and shouldn't be jumped into without the intention of building a business around it.